NASA’s “Dismissive” Leadership Blamed for Massive Failings

Earlier this month NASA announced they are going to jettison trash into space that will likely strike the Earth sometime within the next 300 days. Next it is revealed that operating spacecraft while intoxicated has been ignored more than once by the higher-ups at NASA, and finally it’s insinuated that NASA’s longstanding culture of disregarding unpleasant facts was likely partially responsible for the deaths of the Columbia crew. What’s going on?

According so some, the problem at NASA is its culture, which includes a nasty longstanding habit of dismissing the concerns of knowledgeable underlings.

Several years ago it become more apparent when top officials ignored engineers who feared possible catastrophic damage to the shuttle Columbia. The engineers were largely ignored, but sadly turned out to be right.

"I think things have changed, but some things remain the same," said Douglas Osheroff, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who investigated the Columbia disaster in 2003.

An independent health panel recently disclosed that astronauts are sometimes cleared to fly despite warnings from flight surgeons and other astronauts about their heavy drinking. One intoxicated astronaut flew into orbit on a Russian spacecraft; the other ended up with a shuttle launch delay for mechanical reasons but later tried to take off in a training jet while still under the influence.

One concern addressed by the panel is that doctors and other astronauts are often ignored by higher-ranking officials. Flight surgeons told the panel that they feel so disregarded and demoralized, in general, that they are less likely to report concerns of impaired performance when it does arise.

Several senior flight surgeons told the panel that all NASA's leadership wants is to hear that all medical systems are "go" for space flight. They don’t want to hear about doubts and concerns, the panel was told.

Such was the case of low-level engineers during Columbia's final flight. They complained that their bosses only wanted to hear positive news and ignored warnings about the fuel-tank insulating foam that broke off, which lead to the death of seven astronauts.

"NASA has had a history of ignoring indications that something is wrong, and even though the odds were with NASA, they have lost," Osheroff said, referring to recurring foam problems before Columbia's doomed mission.

Besides tales of drunken astronauts, the health panel were told about other risky behavior, which was unspecified in the report. Often irresponsible behavior is no secret to colleagues, but many say that they are too afraid to speak up for fear of ostracism. However NASA says they are eager to change their policy and tarnished image along with it.

"We want to make sure that there is an open culture here and people are empowered to raise any safety-related concerns," said NASA's deputy administrator, Shana Dale.

As for overindulging in liquor, Osheroff finds it mind-boggling that NASA could have cleared intoxicated astronauts for flight.

"Launch and re-entry are the two times when the astronauts have to really be sharp because that is when most of the danger is," he said. "So the idea of being drunk when you're going up, you might as well go up in a casket."

Posted by Rebecca Sato

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